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Sin and emotional death

I was talking to a friend recently and she said something that triggered a thought in me. This friend, who by the way holds a PhD in Christian Psychology, basically said that a careful examination of any adult member of the human race could and would result in a diagnosis of some level of neurosis.

The word comes from a Greek word that loosely translated means, nerve abnormality or disorder. Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalytical Theory later defined neurosis as a variety of mental disorders which may manifest themselves as phobias, anxieties, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, and even personality disorders.

In the book "A Bio-Social Theory of Neurosis", Dr. George Boeree observed neuroses manifest in sadness, depression, anger, irritability, and low sense of Self-worth. These manifestations often resulted in a "poor ability to adapt to one's environment, an inability to change one's life patterns, and the inability to develop a richer, more complex, more satisfying personality."

Sound like anyone you know? I realize that many of the symptoms described here sound extreme, but most would have to admit that we could find at least one or two items on this short list that hit awfully close to home.

But where did all of this start? How did we begin this journey to the emotional abyss? Many have tried to answer these questions. Most have done so without the Biblical insight that is so readily available and yet seems so elusive to the bastions of modern psychology. Some have treated with disdain even the suggestion that the answers to man’s problems could be found in God’s word, while others have come close only to fall short of actually crossing the "line".

Freud thought that sexual desire was the driving force behind all human endeavors and that man’s problems were largely due to sexual frustration. He believed that there was an internal struggle taking place between the libido (sexual desire, mostly on the unconscious level of the psyche) and the Superego (the desire to conform to society's standards of behavior). I realize this may be an over simplification but none the less I believe it to be accurate.

Carl Jung came close to the line when he said that human psyche is "by nature religious", yet seems to have fallen short of actually defining that "religious nature" by identifying it's Author. I am referring to the inescapable need to return to the garden and to the fellowship with our Creator once enjoyed there.

Jung believed that often a "religious experience" was needed to effect real change when all else had failed. Even though Jung was once reported as telling a friend addicted to alcohol that "I can’t do it better than Jesus" he was obviously not a committed follower of Christ as evidenced by his deep involvement in Hinduism as well as many of his written works. I believe it would be a fair statement to say that Jung’s approach to the "religious nature" of man was that any religion will do.

So much has been written regarding the emotional problems of man, but as in our examples above, most of the material available is written from a decidedly secular point of view.

What does the Bible have to say about it?

Genesis chapter 3 has recorded for us the fall of man. For the purpose of this article I am most interested in analyzing what happened immediately following Adam and Eve’s disobedience in eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We will pick up the account in verses 7-13, which read:

"Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, 'Where are you?' So he said, 'I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.' And He said, 'Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?'

Then the man said, 'The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I ate.' And then the Lord God said to the woman, 'What is this you have done?' The woman said, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'"

These passages are used to tell of the spiritual death as well as the physical death of man, but little has been said about the emotional component of man’s fall.

Let’s take a moment to give some working definitions for the terms we are using here. First, and easiest is physical death. Defined as the cessation of life. Whether you take a clinical approach which defines death as a permanent termination of biological function, or the definition previously offered, death is the absence of something that was once present and that something in this case is biological function or life. This death may not be instantaneous but it is sure. The mortality rate among humans is 100%, one death to every person.

What about spiritual death? The spirit of a person is the part most closely connected with the very nature of God. In John 4:24 Jesus told the woman at the well that God the Father was Spirit. Later in 1 John 5:11, 12 John writes:

"And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life, and he who does not have the Son of God does not have life."

John is writing to people who are obviously physically alive so he must be referring to a different kind of death. The word has here is significant in that it provides us with insight. It is used here in the same way it is used in common language today. When you ask if someone is married, you ask if they have a wife or husband in the same way you ask if they have children. The word denotes a particular kind of relationship the person being asked has with the subject of the query.

The record of the fall shows us that although man once enjoyed an intimate trusting relationship with God, the connection was broken in one moment of disobedience. In verse 8 of Genesis 3 we find Adam and Eve withdrawing from the presence of God. The intimate relationship they once enjoyed with God was destroyed and as a result, they hid themselves.

And so again, spiritual death is defined as the absence of something that was once present, in this case the something being discussed in 1John is a relationship with Son of God.

Ok, what about the emotional life of man? Well, unlike the physical and spiritual death, which was defined as the absence of something that was once present, I believe the emotional death of man is defined as the presence of something that was once absent.

I believe that Adam and Eve became three things that they were not before the fall:

1) Self-aware

It isn’t as if they were totally unaware prior to the fall. They were certainly aware of their surroundings, the animals, each other, and they were obviously aware of God and His presence.

We get a clue of this in the beginning of verse 7 when we read "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew…". Obviously they were not, up until that point, groping around the garden in darkness, bumping into trees and shrubs because they couldn’t see where they were going. This phrase refers to an awareness that had not previously been realized.

And what did they become aware of? Sin! The serpent tempted them with the knowledge of good and evil and now they had it, and humanity has been destroying itself with this same knowledge every since.

Like so many other things that Satan has perverted that were of God’s design, this "double edged sword" carries with it the knowledge that we can do whatever we want and the illusion that we can do it free from any consequence.

2) Self-abased

Shame is an emotional form of self-punishment and what most do when they experience shame is try to cover it up. The shame was not a result of their nakedness, they were naked before they sinned as we see in verse 25 of chapter 2. The shame was the result of becoming self-aware and realizing they had failed God and failed each other and this failure made a marked difference in the way they perceived one another and the way each perceived God.

The shame wasn’t something that was there before and it wasn’t something they counted on. Shame leads to something else that wasn’t there before, fear. Even after sowing the fig leaves and covering themselves, they couldn’t cover their conscience and they were afraid and hid themselves from God. Another pattern begun here and followed by mankind ever since.

3) Self-preserving

Have you ever caught a 3 year-old with their hand in the cookie jar after you told them no cookies until after dinner? They look at you with those big wonder filled eyes, chocolate smeared from one cheek to the other, and swear up and down they did not do what in fact you watched them do! They don’t have to be told how to lie, blame, deflect to avoid punishment, they know how to do that instinctively. They and we learned it from Adam and Eve.

Look at verses 12 and 13. After God asked Adam did you eat of the tree? Adam says, it was the woman’s fault AND it was YOUR fault God for giving her to me! God turns to Eve, and she points the finger to the serpent, "well he deceived me!" And mankind has been blame laying and pointing the finger ever since.

Anytime I caught the kids doing something they know they shouldn’t be, it always hurt me when they lied about it. It wasn’t just the lie, it was the fact that they felt they needed to protect themselves from me.

Most, even though many would never admit it, feel down deep that they need to be protected from God and so they, like Adam and Eve hide themselves from Him. Afraid to come out in the open and meet with Him.

They even think God is the reason they feel ashamed. The shame is there because in our self-awareness, we realize that we have turned our back on the one who loves and gave Himself for us. How can we face Him?

FORGIVENESS

1 John 1:9

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."